Okay thanks for the info on the steroid creams. On another note, in a small part related to this discussion. I've been helping a homeless man named Jim who just before Christmas was given 5 days notice to move out of his $700/mth one bedroom apartment on the excuse that the landlord wanted to renovate and that he could perhaps move back in the future but at $1,400/mth. Jim and his 3 cats have been living in a rickety tent, near a drainage canal, behind the Publix grocery store and pharmacy that I frequent. Jim was not returned his $700 damage deposit either from his last apartment.Jim turns 74 on April 27th and had been living with a retired schoolteacher in that apartment until she died of brain cancer last year. Jim does not drink, loves his cats and worked for 6 years at Holiday Inn as a janitor and then 10 years at Bethesda Hospital here and he told me he could make dirty floors and carpets look brand new. So his retired lady friend would likely have had a good pension plus social security and Jim himself between pension and social security has $2200 coming in on the 1st and 3rd of each month, loaded onto his TD bank card and social security card, so life was good. I have been buying Jim food for himself, not fancy BOGO specials of Robin Hood peanut butter, Jam and bread, orange juice, bottled water, paper towels, toilet paper (he has to use the woods) and dry and wet cat food, plus cat litter. I noticed Jim had bad psoriasis on his arms and encouraged his to go to an Urgent Care Clinic (like me, but free for him with health plan), since his assigned doctor is in Miami, 2 hours away and Jim only has a bicycle that he travels 125 miles per week on he estimated. Anyway after his clinic visit Jim only $5 to his name, so I bought him6 tubes of that Publix 1% cortisone steroid cream, and it was amazing how better his arms looked after a few days (pharmacist told me to pass on to Jim only to use cream for 2 weeks, then take a 2 week break before resuming treatment. Now against my advice, once his Feb money came in, Jim has written a $1,400 cheque to a church pastor he met at a church free supper, who said he will help Jim to find a place to live (nothing yet, hope that pastor doesn't cash the cheque and relocate out of town). Jim comes into Publix to charge his cell phone and he uses the flashlight feature as a light at night). Also several years go Jim was hit on his bicycle by an uninsured driver turning right on him and he suffered injuries without compensation. Jim told me that as an 18 year he lived with his parents in Boynton Beach and had a couple of "muscle" cars that he maintained himself. Back in 1970 Aged 20, he drove one of those cars from Florida to California on interstate highway I-10 (the 2700 mile route we are taking on Thursday). He was alone and mostly drove at 100 mph with no cops around (back then anyway). I visited Salvation Army on his behalf and they gave me the addresses and telephone #'s of three subsidized apartment building, but I was told he would likely have to give up his cats which he has had since kittens (now aged 16, 12 and 10). Salvation Army told me that Palm Beach County where we live is the worst one in Florida to be to be a a poor, homeless senior. Jim said he phoned but their were no vacancies. Better today, but often Jim stinks of urine, understandably given his living conditions without washing facilities. An assistant manager I know at Publix, Scott, invited Jim into the store eating area, a corner table with a charge plug on the wall for his phone, while he waited for me to shop for groceries and was worried his bicycle would be stolen outside out of sight, so he took a bicycle lock off the shelf and gave it to Jim and showed him how to use. Really nice thing o do, the lock had letters as the unlock code, better than #'s, and Jim's was J-A-M-S so easy to remember. In the last week Jim has move to a different camp site 3 miles away as too many other homeless people were encroaching on his space.Now imagine that, moving 3 cats in a cat carrier (he said it is really tight for them), a tent, food, blankets on a bicycle. Last week a tire blew out and he said a new tire and inner tube cost $50, he says his bearings are staring to go, that he repair himself, but parts are $80. Most apartments require first month rent plus an equal damage deposit so if Jim finds an $1100 apartment + $1100 damage out of his $2200 monthly income he would have nothing left for food or the month. Jim is a decent man and I feel badly for him in this situation. He has family support and his only friend of 40 years who he worked with is dying of bone cancer. In the heat here the smell from a litter box with 3 cats using it must be appalling, they are indoor cats and have never been outside Jim say. So now 3 miles away from Publix he has to he has to leave his 3 cats in the tent and ride his bicycle there to charge his phone and get free food samples at lunchtime. I asked Jim for his phone # (he says he has a $70 plan that he pays in person each month) and he didn't know, so told him o phone mine so I could get it. So then I told him about text messaging and he said he had never used that, so I sent him a simple message, and bing it arrived on his phone, so then I asked him to send me a short message, but his hands shake and his keyboard is small, so I showed him the back button to remove unwanted letters. After 10 mins of this, all he could text me was H3, H for Hello. So a sad situation, I hope that pastor comes though for him. I found another $1,200 one bedroom apartment in Lake Worth that allows pets, but thy require an income of 3x rent so $3,600 so that formula doesn't work with only a $2,200 monthly income. Anyway sorry to bore you all with this, but I thought of Jim with the cortisone cream treatment for his psoriasis.I’m no medic but I would suggest you chat to a pharmacist about the wisdom of adding the 1% steroid cream to the prescribed 2.5% and the two steroid jabs. One side effect of overuse of steroids (eg hydrocortisone) is thinning of the skin.
Glad it’s working though.